When is the best time to list eBay auction items?

Selling on eBay can be a great way to make some extra cash, in fact some people make a business out of it! It is a great way to get thousands of people to see what you have to offer but the competition can be fierce. There are a number of ways you can help to make your listings stand out and get noticed which will in turn boost your chances of selling your items for a great price. Listing your items so that they end at a time when eBay experiences peak visitor numbers is key. So when is the best time to list eBay auction items?

The best time to list auction items

When you list an auction item on eBay, you have the option to list for 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. Your item will then end at the same time as you’ve listed it. So if you were to list an item at 9pm on a Friday for one day, it would end at 9pm on a Saturday (this is NOT advised!). If you’re listing auction items, you need to consider carefully when your items will come to an end. There’s no point listing them in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep. You may think you’re using your time productively but having an item that ends at 3am will attract very few bidders as it comes to a close.

Why does it matter when an item ends?

You may be wondering why the actual end time matters on an auction item. If you’ve listed an item for 10 days then surely anybody looking for it will have seen it and placed a bid? WRONG! Lots of buyers will choose to watch an item until near to the end time to avoid bumping up the price prematurely. They’ll then start to place bids often in the last minute. It can be great fun to watch those last few seconds counting down!

Peak visitor times on eBay

The number of visitors to eBay peaks on a Sunday evening between 4pm-8pm (GMT). This could be down to people putting their feet up after spending the weekend with family, chilling out before going back to work on a Monday morning. This makes this the optimum time for auction items to end.

So when is the best time to list eBay items?

Ideally, you want to give your auction items as much exposure as you possibly can. That’s why you’ll find many eBay sellers saying that they achieve optimum sales when they list their items for 10 days. By listing your item on a Thursday night for 10 days, you’ve got two weekends with your items listed for all to see.

So what about those of us who work on a Thursday evening? eBay has a nifty scheduling tool that allows you to create your listing at any time and schedule it to start when you like. They do charge a fee for this service, but if it bumps up your chances of making a decent profit then you may well feel it’s worth it.